Multicultural Workshop Opens Doors For Teachers

WOODSTOCK — A culture is perpetuated by the sharing of memories and stories that bond a people together.

That was part of the message Jim May brought to 22 Woodstock elementary school teachers during Wednesday's cultural diversity workshop in the Woodstock Public Library.

People once sat around wood-burning stoves telling stories, sharing experiences with each other, May, an Emmy Award-winning storyteller, noted.

"You define a culture by the stories the people hold in common, stories which define their values and beliefs," he said.

Movies, television and computer games have begun to replace that process, according to May's wife, Nancy Siedler. Part of the idea behind the workshop, she said, was to show the teachers how to rekindle the shared-experience tradition.

Now in its second year, the diversity day workshops have generated "an incredible amount of involvement in the classrooms," said Sandra May, a Northwood Elementary School teacher who helped coordinate the program.